Someone New
by Prisoner of Azkaban711
Summary: Written for the Quidditch League Season 4, Round 1 - A Slytherin and a Hufflepuff is an unlikely friendship, right? Regulus Black is soon to discover that his favourite pastime could help to change more of his perceptions than he realised. Updated to correct minor errors.
Author's note: This is written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 4 (Round 1) "Where are my Death Eaters at?" This is my second season of Quidditch League antics (this time captaining the Tutshill Tornados) so we'll see how this season goes :) This story is dedicated to Unicorn of Castiel to add to their Regulus feels – Hope you like it, Gin :)

Task: Write about a Death Eater with their friends – I've chosen Regulus Black.

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Flashes of emerald and silver streaked past Regulus as he hovered a couple of hundred feet above the ground. He surveyed the sky, enjoying how the wind whipped through his long, dark hair as he searched for the tiny golden ball.

He kept an eye on the Chasers below him, who were busy throwing the Quaffle between them and each taking a pass at the goal. Regulus smiled widely. Quidditch allowed him to spend time with his other friends, and enjoy the sense of freedom he got from soaring across the sky. Although he loved his family, they could be overwhelming at times, so to go out to the Quidditch pitch was often a blessing.

A glint of gold drew his gaze from his fellow players. On realising it was the Snitch, he started off down the pitch after the minute ball, which he could see darting about near the right side stands.

He dived before the Snitch had time to fly away again, pulling up just before his feet touched the damp ground. He felt the cool metal on his fingers as his outstretched hand encased the winged sphere, and he pulled to a stop as he reached the first row of seats.

The sound of clapping alerted Regulus to someone's presence nearby. He turned around to look at his teammates, but all of them were still preoccupied with their own training to be watching him.

Regulus surveyed the stands from his elevated position. He saw only a couple of figures occupying seats: Madam Hooch and a blond-haired boy.

The Quidditch professor had her nose buried in this morning's edition of the Daily Prophet, but the blond boy was watching Regulus intently, with a grin plastered on his face.

The Slytherin flew slightly further forward so that he was level with the boy. He caught a glimpse of the yellow and black striped tie he was wearing and realised that he vaguely recognised him from a few of his classes, but had never really given any time to learn his name or talk to him.

As he pulled to a stop and hovered above the stands, the blond started to congratulate Regulus on his catch.

"They said the Slytherin Seeker was good, but that was incredible. The way you just darted off down the pitch like that… Wow!"

"Err… Thanks," Regulus replied, giving him a confused look. What was this Hufflepuff doing here? "You do know the Slytherins booked the pitch today. The others might not be overly keen to have someone else loitering around…" he stated, attempting to make his point clear and possibly scare the boy away. Although, in the back of his mind, he did admire his courage. Coming over to talk to a Slytherin he didn't even know was quite bold, in Regulus' thinking.

The boy shrugged slightly, but looked virtually unfazed by Regulus' concern. Before the Slytherin could say anything else, he continued:

"Is that a Nimbus 1000?" he asked, looking at the broomstick with awe.

"Yeah," Regulus replied. Even though he didn't really know this boy, he didn't feel like he could just ignore him. "I've had it since it came out a few years ago."

"That must be so cool. I'm still stuck on a Cleansweep 3. It flies okay, but I'm sure it's nothing compared to that," he said, as Regulus dismounted his broom sat down next to him. "I'm Simon Flynn, by the way. I've seen you in lessons, but I don't think we've ever actually spoken before."

"Yeah, I recognise you," Regulus replied, still a little perplexed as to why Simon had sought him out. "I'm Regulus Black."

Simon stretched out his hand, which Regulus shook, using the hand that wasn't still holding the snitch.

"So, what are you doing out here?" Regulus asked. He didn't think that Simon was spying on them, but he couldn't help himself being a little suspicious of this newcomer.

"I'm trying out for the Hufflepuff team," he said, grinning widely again, "as a Seeker actually. That's why I came down here. As I said before, everyone thinks you're really good."

Regulus smiled slightly. It wasn't often that he was complimented by people that weren't part of his direct friendship group. In fact, he kind of believed he had faded away into the background, as professors and pupils alike were normally too preoccupied with Sirius to notice him.

"I'll – err – give you some pointers, if you want," Regulus said, before he even knew what he was doing. He knew he would never have done anything of the sort if there were any other people close by. "If you come back here tomorrow evening, I'll see what I can do."

Simon's face lit up. "You mean it?" he asked, clearly unaware of the inner turmoil Regulus was currently wrestling with.

With Regulus' small nod, Simon thanked him tremendously before leaving the stands to return the next evening. Regulus was left wondering what on earth he'd just agreed to.

OoOoO

To Regulus' great surprise, he actually quite enjoyed the following evening. Simon was a pretty good flyer, even though he hadn't been doing it that long. Regulus was quickly able to teach him some moves that were useful as a Seeker, such as dives and quick starts.

As they were racing each other down the pitch, Regulus felt free. Away from all the pureblood supremacy notions of his parents and expectations of his cousins to be a 'good' Slytherin and consider himself superior to anyone else in the school. It was just nice to do something that he loved with someone, he was soon realising, that he might want to call a friend.

"Thanks, Regulus," Simon said, after they'd finished and had arrived back in the entrance hall of the castle, "I didn't really know how you'd react to me asking for help, but I'm so glad you agreed. You've really changed my opinion of Slytherins."

That was not something that Regulus was expecting to hear. He looked at Simon with a stunned expression for a second. A Black, following in the footsteps of his ancestors as a pureblooded Slytherin, being praised for changing someone's mind on the house was unheard of.

Simon seemed to notice this confusion, but simply nodded and patted Regulus' shoulder before heading off towards the Hufflepuff common room.

But Regulus didn't forget this sentiment. When Simon made the Hufflepuff team a week later and caught the snitch in his first game against Ravenclaw, Regulus joined the Hufflepuff crowd in cheering for the boy that had changed Regulus' mind about friendship.

 **A/N: Okay so totally random in the end but hey. Please leave a review!**

 **Edit: Corrections made curtesy of judge Mavennica :)**


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